AMBULANCE RADIO controls traffic (Mar, 1948)

AMBULANCES are supposed to speed people to hospitalsâ€” but they can’t speed and they therefore can’t save some lives.

Traffic holds them back. Their average 35 mph is pretty slow.

But they may do 70 before long. A device now being patented by J. R. Schwarzkopf will put a radio transmitter in the ambulance. Traffic lights will contain tuned receivers with relays. The ambulance will streak along, its radio signallingâ€”and all the lights will turn red and all traffic pull over to clear an open speedway.

Alternatively, every vehicle with a manual transmission is equipped with a device that turns red lights green AFTER coming to a complete stop.

It operates on the principle of Murphy’s Law and you operate it by putting the car in neutral, taking your foot of the clutch and setting the parking brake 🙂

RawBT says: January 21, 20086:39 am

I sure love that ambulance design, I sure wish someone would bring back the original “steampunk” look for more then just rich people’s desks… Awesome site BTW, thanks!

Topher says: April 23, 20088:10 am

Actually, that’s not really steampunk. I’ve come to call that particular “psuedo-Jetsons” style Zeerust, after reading the entry for it on TV-Tropes.com

The name itself comes from The Deeper Meaning of Liff, a fake joke dictionary that takes things without words and gives them a town name. Other than that fake “word”, there isn’t really a name for that style.

As that fake dictionary put it, it can basically be described as something originally designed to look futuristic that now looks retro. Of course, that also covers the “futuristic” of the late 60s and the 70s, which was quite a bit different.